8 Fights Official for UFC 132

Former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Wanderlei
Silva will lock horns with Chris Leben
in a featured middleweight matchup at UFC 132 “Cruz vs. Faber” on
July 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Eight fights are
now official for the event, which will air live on
pay-per-view.

Silva (Pictured; file photo), who underwent reconstructive knee
surgery last summer, has not fought since UFC 110 in February 2010,
when he outpointed “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner Michael
Bisping en route to a unanimous decision at the Acer Arena in
Sydney, Australia. The 34-year-old Brazilian has not won
back-to-back fights in nearly five years. Long revered for his
violent style and aggressive approach, Silva has secured 23 of his
33 career victories by knockout or technical knockout. Wins over
Japanese pioneer Kazushi
Sakuraba (thrice), one-time UFC light heavyweight champion
Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson (twice) and former two-division Pride
titleholder Dan
Henderson anchor his resume. A future hall of famer, Silva owns
a 3-5 mark inside the UFC. “The Axe Murderer” was a semifinalist in
the 2006 Pride open weight grand prix.

Based in Hawaii, Leben has won three of his last four fights. The
30-year-old Portland, Ore., native last competed at UFC 125 on New
Year’s Day, when he succumbed to first-round strikes from former
WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann.
A three-time “Knockout of the Night” award winner, Leben has
delivered more than half (13) of his 25 professional wins by
knockout or technical knockout. He owns notable victories over
former Sengoku Raiden Championship titleholder Jorge
Santiago, American Kickboxing Academy representative Mike Swick,
American Top Team’s Alessio
Sakara and 2006 K-1 Hero’s light heavyweight tournament winner
Yoshihiro
Akiyama.

Meanwhile, “Bully Beatdown” host Jason “Mayhem”
Miller will make his first UFC appearance since April 2005,
when he meets Aaron
Simpson in a preliminary middleweight matchup.

Miller will carry a two-fight winning streak into the cage. The
30-year-old last fought at Dream 16 in September, when he became
the first man in nearly 15 years to submit Sakuraba, doing so with
a first-round arm-triangle choke at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya,
Japan. Colorful, charismatic and controversial, Miller counts wins
over former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie
Lawler, UFC veteran Frank Trigg
and one-time Strikeforce middleweight title contender Tim Kennedy
among his 24 professional victories. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt, he has 14 submissions to his credit.

A late bloomer in MMA, Simpson was a two-time NCAA All-American
wrestler at Arizona State University. The 36-year-old Colorado
native halted a two-fight losing streak at UFC Fight Night 24 in
March, when he took a unanimous decision from Mario
Miranda at the KeyArena in Seattle. Simpson sports a 4-2 mark
inside the Octagon, with wins over Tim
McKenzie, Tom Lawlor
and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 finalist Ed Herman.